Owls Take Two Of Three From VCU With 4-3 Comeback Win In Series Finale

Sunday, April 14

Richmond, VA

1:00 p.m.

Temple University

14-18, 0

VCU

16-17, 0

Temple

VCU

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Owls Take Two Of Three From VCU With 4-3 Comeback Win In Series Finale

4.14.13 | Baseball

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – Temple recorded its first series win of the 2013 season with a 4-3 win over Virginia Commonwealth on Sunday afternoon at The Diamond. The Owls scored two runs in the eighth inning to secure the come from behind victory.

The Owls trailed 3-2 entering the eighth inning when they played small ball to score the game-winning run. Temple tied the game on a bases loaded walk to pinch hitter Daniel Dragos, which forced junior Derek Peterson to trot home. Freshman Jimmy Kerrigan hit a clutch single to shortstop, scoring pinch runner Elijah Yarborough. Undoubtedly, it was the biggest RBI of the freshman's career as the Owls were now leading 4-3 with six outs to go.

It was a total team effort on the mound for the Owls, as five pitchers appeared to secure the Owls 14th win of the year. Senior Dan Moller started the game and went on to throw 3.2 innings, through whcih he allowed two runs on only four hits. Freshman Connor Staskey came into the game and pitched a scoreless seventh inning to earn the win as the Owls regained the lead while he was pitcher of record. The lefthander improves to a perfect 3-0 on the season.

Redshirt junior Ryan Kuehn came in to pitch for the second straight day. Kuehn finished the game off to record his third save of the year. The Owls' closer struck out one batter in a scoreless ninth inning. Kuehn has now recorded scoreless outings in each of his last three appearances.

On the offensive side, Peterson led the Owls with a 3-for-4 clip. Peterson, who sccored and knocked in a run, now leads the team in hits (43), runs (20), and doubles (10).

The Owls jumped out to a strong start when Peterson lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score senior Jordan Queja to give the Owls a 1-0 lead.

VCU scored one run in three different innings on the day. Temple committed two miscues during the fourth inning, helping the Rams score one run on an RBI-groundout to take their first lead at 2-1.

Temple bounced back in the fifth inning as it was able to tie the game at two on a RBI-single from senior Henry Knabe, which scored Kerrigan after he had earleir reached on a walk. The run batted in was a team leading 25th on the season for Knabe.

Temple improves to 14-17 overall and to 5-7 in Atlantic 10 Conference play and will have off until Friday when as they travel to Kingston, R.I. for a weekend series against the Rhode Island Rams. The first game of the set is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.